


Strangers

by winterhats



Series: Strangers [1]
Category: Kagerou Project, Mekakucity Actors
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mentions of Suicide, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23125846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterhats/pseuds/winterhats
Summary: One moment you're calling up your old highschool friends for lunch and in the next one you're jumping off a window of a house you broke into with them.(No eye power AU. Shintaro, Haruka and Takane reunite years after Ayano's death).
Relationships: Enomoto Takane | Ene & Kisaragi Shintaro, Enomoto Takane/Kokonose Haruka | Ene/Konoha, Kokonose Haruka | Konoha & Kisaragi Shintaro, implied kidomomo
Series: Strangers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881844
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of a mixture between crack and angst. I'm only certain of one thing: it's a mess. Also I know everything I write is basically the same concept, I don't care.

“It’s awful!” Ayano whined, fluttering her bag around. If it wasn’t because she was keeping her hold on it, it’d be flying by now. “We’ve only started school a week ago and I’m already failing everything…”

Walking home together is kind of annoying, Shintaro thinks. In order to accompany Ayano, Haruka, and Takane, he delays coming home for like twenty more minutes.

_Why did I even tag along? It's not like they forced me._

He really doesn't know why he bothers, if he dislikes it as much as he thinks.

“That’s because you don’t pay attention,” Shintaro snapped back. “You only make those paper things.”

“They're _paper cranes,_ excuse you," she laughs, as if it was obvious. And it probably was, though Shintaro didn't actually know the proper name until he met her.

“You’re failing because of paper cranes, then?"

“Shintaro… you’re mean…”

“What did I say to be mean!?”

“I could help you study,” Haruka quietly said from the side, before Shintaro's words could get any ruder. He hears Takane click her tongue next to her classmate, but Shintaro decides to make himself a favor and ignore her. “I mean, I know Shintaro-kun helps you, but maybe I could help a little too!"

“Yes, please, help her. She’s all yours,” Shintaro, for some reason, feels the need to overexaggerate a sigh. “But fair warning; she’s hopeless.”

“You’re mean!” Ayano whines once again, but doesn't get distracted from the matter at hand. “Can you help Shintaro help me, then?”

“That’s not what I meant when I say I could help you, but I think I can do that, too,” Haruka chuckles. “We could also help Takane study. I'm guessing she's gonna need a bit of help too, right?"

He nudges the other girl softly, but she just groans.

"Don't bring me into this," Takane shakes her head, and those dumb pigtails she's way too old to have bounced along. "I'm doing alright so far."

"Huuuh, so you didn't miss _anything_ while you were napping earlier in class?"

"Shut up, Haruka."

As Haruka giggled and Takane sulked, Shintaro couldn't help rolling his eyes, “Whatever. Ayano, you better start studying early so you won't be a pain in the butt during the summer, alright?"

“Yes, sir,” Ayano saluted him, and she almost dropped her bag on the ground because of it. He sighs again, slowly shaking his head from a side to the other, as if he was a parent saying "what am I going to do with you?"

Ayano only laughs.

Shintaro, at twenty six years old, remembers that highschool day that was like any other, and wonders what happened to that cheerful girl. He wonders if she was ever a cheerful girl in the first place.

* * *

Kano Shuuya showed up at his doorstep no less than a week ago. That was something that absolutely wrecked Shintaro's mental lifestyle, really. Because so far, Shintaro had been successful at losing himself in memories that allow him to ignore the possibility of a good life. 

So when someone barely related to those memories showed up, Shintaro's paused state of mind seems to set itself in motion, his depressed routine suddenly becoming a place of haunting.

"Dad passed away," Kano had told him, cutting right to the chase after saying "long time no see" with his characteristic grin and same cheeky attitude he remembers. Loyal to his old ways, Kano had also immediately switched to a somber expression and serious voice. Shintaro couldn't bring himself to answer with condolences soon enough because Kano continued speaking as if he wasn't expecting him to express them anyway (or like he didn't want to hear it). "And my siblings and I were cleaning up after all his stuff because, well, the house is ours now and we're gonna move there– And we found this."

As Kano struggled a little over his winter clothes to grab something in his bag, Shintaro inanely realizes that it might mean Kano's sensitive to the cold, because it really wasn't that cold today. It was weird to think because such simple things like that make you so human and so real. Kano never felt particularly human or real, Shintaro thinks.

He kept wondering why stupid winter clothes were making him think that or why Kano was making him think that. He never really knew Kano at all. He only knew Kano because he was–

"I guess I could've mailed it, but that'd take ages and honestly, it'd be pretty dumb to do that," Kano chuckled, and he finally held out a letter for him. "Big sis wrote this."

He only knew Kano because he was Ayano's little brother.

Ayano, who committed suicide ten years ago.

He felt himself gulp, and as he didn't try to reach out to grab the letter, Kano suddenly came back to his cheery self.

"Ah, gee, very sudden, isn't it? We felt the same way," he shook his head, and looked up to the cheap light of the hallway the apartment was in. "Seems that big sis wrote this before she... uh, you know. But for some reason dad hid it. Maybe he just wanted to make it easier, I don't know. Either way, it's for you."

That's the first time Shintaro's able to say something ever since hello, "Me?"

"Well, yeah. Sorry I read it, but like, it's talking to you," he could hear the sourness in Kano's voice. The... jealousy. Shintaro gulped; he guessed that finding a letter your dead sister wrote before doing what she did and to see it's addressed to a guy you never particularly liked might be slightly annoying. "It mentions the other two as well, but it's ultimately directed to you."

"The other two" bring in a sudden flash of people he hadn't thought of in a long time, and since that moment Shintaro's mind hadn't known peace. He doesn't know why he didn't tell Kano he isn't actually in contact with _the other two_ and he hasn't seen them almost for as long as he hasn't seen Ayano. Except he had a good reason not to see Ayano since she's, well–

Shintaro shakes his head, trying to get those thoughts off his mind. The memory of Kano at his doorstep last week, and anything remotely negative. He just wanted all of that out of his head.

That left nothing.

"Big bro?" Momo, pinching his bubble of thought, has that face she always makes when she doesn't approve of something he's doing. Her eyes scan him from up and down. "You got dressed? You never change clothes."

"Shut up," Shintaro rolls his eyes. As he freeloads at his little sister's apartment, she's kind of entitled to have opinions on him, but it still bothers him. "At least I shower."

"It doesn't smell like it," she wrinkles her nose, and he just rolls his eyes again as she continues curling her hair. It seemed like she was getting ready to go somewhere too.

Despite they live together, they barely talk to each other, so it's not like Shintaro had any idea where that could be, and it's not like he's gonna tell her what he's doing either. He never really thinks about that, but with his whole mind unlocked from whatever it was locked in, he somehow gets the urge to ask, "Whatcha getting ready for?"

Momo's obviously taken back by the question, to the point she looks away from the makeup mirror. "Wh– why do you care?! Jeez!"

Blushing, she manages to grab all the makeup and other random stuff she had on the kitchen table, and goes away. He watches her do that and although he understands, he can't say it doesn't hurt, "It was just a question!"

Momo didn't respond, so all he hears is a door shutting in the distance of the apartment. Jeez. This is why he shouldn't even try, not even with his own family.

So, who's to say he'll be able to maintain friendship?

* * *

And so, he anxiously bounces his leg as he waits.

Oh, man. This feels wrong. So very wrong.

Well, he knows that "wrong" probably isn't the word he's looking for, but it's not like he's giving himself room to think. Because, why was he doing this again...?

A particularly grumpy looking waiter approaches him, and Shintaro takes in an anxious breath of the anticipated interaction. Holding only one menu, he stands there in front of the table, and asks, "For one?"

For some reason, Shintaro looks away in what felt like embarrassment, "No, I'm waiting for some people."

Wow... Just how long has it been since he's said something along those lines?

How long has it been since he has sat somewhere awaiting to see someone?

The waiter nods and walks away with no other word, though Shintaro feels like he might think "who would want to hang out with this depressing looking loser" but that might be his paranoia speaking... or that guy's just a really, really bad waiter. 

Sighing and letting himself relax against the back of the chair, he considers chickening out. Why would anything make a difference? He hasn't seen those two in like ten years. Ten more and an entire lifetime won't make a difference anymore. 

But his bag, hanging from his chair, felt heavy. He kept his hand over it almost protectively, his thoughts all messily spreaded on what was inside.

 _Right,_ Shintaro tells himself. _This is why I'm doing this._

He got a letter that unlocked his past in his memory. Right! Right.

A part of him wondered if they'd even care to see him; like, would it make sense to just... mourn her all over again, after all this time? Shintaro thinks it would. He does, anyway. But he's not sure what Haruka and Takane will say of that.

Ayano's death is what drifted them all apart from each other, after all.

As Shintaro started to seriously ponder just leaving and forgetting this whole thing, his eyes travel to the bell of the door swinging open. This was a rather busy restaurant, despite it wasn't all that fancy, and the door opened and closed all the time. He doesn't know why he decides to look that specific time, but when he does, he sees Kokonose Haruka walking in.

It wasn't a dramatic entrance, and time didn't slow down as he looked at him. It was just a man walking in and patting his shoulders to get the snow off from his coat; but Shintaro still felt his insides literally compressing all against each other.

_Oh, god, am I gonna throw up? No, I think I'm good. Or not–_

Haruka spots him rather quickly, leaving Shintaro no choice but to stop mentally battling whether he needs to throw up or not. Haruka smiles, holding up his hand for a tiny wave, and Shintaro grimaces in an attempt of smiling back.

The person Shintaro had considered his best friend all those years ago enthusiastically approaches the table, still waving his hand like it wasn't clear that he was saying hi to him, "Hey!"

And he sounds the same as ever. 

Haruka takes his coat off as he gets there, and hangs it on the back of one of the three available chairs in such a casual manner that it made it seem they've only seen each other last week.

But that was not the case, and they hadn't seen each other in a decade, and Shintaro wished this guy felt as awkward as he did. But no. Haruka, in all his dorky and cheerful glory, seemed to have not changed one bit as he rubbed his arms and claimed, "Brr! It's so cold outside!"

Shintaro just blinks at him. Was this really happening? Did this guy just walk in and sat down just like that? A part of him kind of wanted a hug, at least. But he guesses that'd be too much to ask from someone who has became a stranger after all this time. So all he can do is nod.

Okay, too late to run away from the situation, but there's certainly a red flag of still wanting to run away. Several red flags, especially when Haruka speaks up, "Hello?"

"Huh. Yes, what?"

"Nothing, it's just that you haven't said a word," Haruka laughs, finally letting Shintaro read the slightest awkwardness in him. "Are you alright?"

"Wh– yeah, of course. I was just– distracted. Hey. Hello."

" _Yes,_ hello!" if he wasn't awkward before, Haruka definitely is awkward now. "It's been so long! I was surprised to see your text. How have you been all this time?"

For some reason, in Shintaro's ears, that question was a "how are you taking her death?" but that'd be ridiculous. It's infuriating how even after all this time, the tiniest thing related to her happens and he's back to how he was right after said death happened.

Like back to square one, just because some dude showed up at his doorstep to deliver some stupid letter like it's the 1900's.

"I've been– fine, I guess," he sighs. God, his answer is so vague. He can see how Haruka's smile doesn't make things better, because it's an "oh, man, what have I gotten myself into" kinda smile. "How about you?"

Hopefully Haruka's gonna have a more interesting answer that'll keep a somewhat decent conversation, "I'm fine, haha... Just. Cold, I guess."

But of course he doesn't.

Both their gazes fall down on the table, the mood being heart wrenchingly awkward, if you couldn't tell.

Shintaro is obviously to blame for that; the other man had obviously walked in predisposed to make this go alright and smoothly, but after all this time he might've forgotten the way Shintaro is. That being: always screwing over anyone's attempt of an easy going situation.

So, drumming his fingers on the table, Haruka simply goes, "So... I see Takane's not here yet."

Shintaro sighs, "I'm not even sure she's gonna come."

That obviously upset Haruka, because he immediately turns to look at him with genuine shock, "What!? Really!?"

_I wish you looked nearly as happy to see me as you're disappointed to not see her._

"Well... she said "I'll try to make it" and that was it," Shintaro rolled his eyes at the memory. That text message was the first thing he heard from Takane in, he can't stress it enough, _one decade,_ and it really told him she hasn't changed one bit either. Thinking she's too important and all that. "Honestly, I – I don't think I would've been surprised if you guys showed up together."

"Hahaha, whaaat, no way! I haven't seen her in..." Haruka shook his head, smiling nervously. He looked up, as if mentally counting the years, and then simply shook his head again and settled for, "...A long time."

His smile turned _weird_ as he said it, and Shintaro looked away when Haruka's eyes simply looked stressed.

Is it selfish, though? To feel relieved about that?

A part of him thought perhaps Haruka and Takane found comfort in each other while Shintaro was left behind. It was somewhat soothing to hear they were all just as lonely and broken apart.

"Around as long as I haven't seen you, really," Haruka carries on. "If she's busy then perhaps that means she's got a lot of work. That's good..."

"A lot of work is _good?"_

"W – well, it means she's doing okay, is what I mean," he says, though he seems to think about it for another second and then shrugs. "...Financially, at least?"

Haruka makes a face again, probably realizing just how dumb that reasoning was, and Shintaro just shrugged back because he thought rolling his eyes might be a little too rude. Not that he ever cares about that, but _hey,_ he already felt a bit guilty over making Haruka awkward.

A part of him considers just shaking Haruka's hand and say goodbye right now, despite they were here to have lunch and that'd be one way to take the friendship for dead and this time for good. Though, he continues to consider it.

At least he does until a long coat is dropped on the back of a third chair in such a sudden and almost violent manner that both he and Haruka jump in their seats.

The person in question isn't even looking at them as they pull back the chair to sit down, and Shintaro feels his soul leave his body when he identifies this person as Takane.

The same Enomoto Takane that all those years ago used to indiscriminately yell at him for the dumbest things and glared at you in a way that made you feel like you were being turned to stone. Yeah, that same Takane, not a hair out of place, sits down in the third chair.

Haruka seems equally as shocked as him, because so far the two of them have proved to look exactly the same. Haruka has always been well-dressed and clean; now he's just an adult. Shintaro has always been a mess; now he's just an adult (he really put on the first hoodie that didn't smell that bad).

Takane? She looked... like an absolutely different person.

Her hair was up in a neat bun, the sound she made as she sat down told Shintaro she had heels, she was wearing _makeup_ and clothes that looked from designer. Literally the most conventional way a working woman can look. 

But that didn't mean she changed in attitude. She was sitting down with them, sure, but she didn't even offer them a glance as she typed on her phone at a high speed, her bangs covering her eyes (but from what Shintaro could see, those eyes are just as cold as ever). You can tell by the way they're staring almost rudely and she hasn't told them to mind their business that she was in another world.

Finally though, she puts down her phone on the table, and looks up at them in that trademark look of hers. Yup, the eyes are as cold as ever.

Both Haruka and Shintaro jump again, the two sitting straight as if she was their mother. She makes a face Shintaro can only describe as weird, "Hey."

Haruka, maybe overexcited, answers in a heartbeat, "Hey!"

"Yeah, hey," Shintaro adds, and then it's silent.

_Hm._

_Awkward._

Not that it was surprising, really.

Normally, this type of reunion would be started with a "how have you been" or something along those lines, just like Haruka did before, but now that the three of them were here already it felt difficult. It felt wrong. It felt weird. It felt like they still needed to wait for a fourth person.

It was random in itself for Shintaro to ask to see them at all, so he guessed he mostly owes them a reason why. Because there _is_ a reason why.

He opens his mouth to talk, but the rude waiter from before suddenly comes back, this time far more polite looking, and hands out menus without asking anything and limiting himself to hello.

Shintaro sulks in his seat as Haruka and Takane don't waste a second to order drinks, but he can't explain why that's so mind wrecking for him. It's good to know they can easily do those things, really– Shintaro himself is always a mess when it comes to talking to customer service employees.

"–And you probably want soda, don't you?" Takane suddenly asks, looking at him. Shintaro blinks at her.

He looks at her, then at Haruka, then at the waiter, stuttering slightly before managing to say, "I, um. Yeah. Can't believe you remember."

"Can't believe you still drink that thing," Takane shoots back, and chuckles in such... a different way. In a "not poking fun at him" way. In a _nice_ way. She turns back at the waiter to add the soda to the order, and the man looked dashing once again when her attention was on him, opposing to how grumpy he looked when it was on Shintaro. What's his problem with him, seriously.

When the waiter goes away again to let them decide over food, Haruka happily opens up the menu in the same cheerful way he would back then, "Do you still drink it everyday?"

Before Shintaro can help it, he snickers, "Um, yeah, why?"

Haruka and Takane laugh at the same time. Shintaro feels his throat tighten. 

They're not laughing at him. They're just laughing fondly, like friends do. In a nostalgic way.

Haruka shakes his head, "Ah~ I wonder if it ever gave you cavities."

Shintaro forgets himself and gets genuinely defensive, "It did not!"

Takane squints her eyes, pretending disbelief, "Hmm, I wonder if you've ever been to the dentist in the first place."

He laughs with them, and it feels like he's letting out a breath he hasn't realized he's been holding.

They don't talk about the fact they're sitting in a table for four people. He doesn't talk about the letter, either.

* * *

His mind comes back to reality when Takane shuts the car door with a slam. Before he can ask what her deal is, she goes, "Ugh."

Something that hasn't changed about Takane in all this time is the way she radiates off anger and the "don't talk to me or I'll bite your head off" energy. So, since Shintaro prides himself on being smart, he stays quiet.

Truth is, he's at the back of her car like a stupid kid, Haruka being in the front seat due to the rules of "last to get to the car is a rotten egg and takes the back seat". Perhaps Shintaro's still grumpy he's the rotten egg and Haruka and Takane made fun of him from the front seat.

"Are you alright?" Haruka asks, either in an act of bravery or simply not reading Takane's mood. Takane sighs,

"I'm fine. Sorry to be bringing you to all these boring places," she says, surprisingly at ease. She sounded more defeated than angry, which Shintaro thought was weird coming from her.

After all, they were supposed to _only_ have lunch. It wasn't in the plans to get carried away and say "heck, let's go to the arcade!". It wasn't in the plans, yeah, but it was still fun and something they were all excited for, for some reason.

But then Takane was called to handle something from work. She thought it wouldn't take long, brought them along, and here they are, going to the fourth place like an hour and a half after she said it wouldn't take long.

Takane was in and out of the car all the time, and Haruka and Shintaro waited inside as if they were her sons waiting for their mom to be done with work so they could go to McDonald's. Right after he thinks that, Shintaro realizes he's been making way too many analogies of Takane being his mother and that's just weird. He makes a mental note to stop.

"What do you even do for work, anyway?" when he decides talking to Takane is safe, Shintaro asks a question he can't believe he hasn't asked. They've been hanging out for about four hours now, and it apparently didn't occur to any of them to ask this question, which would really be the first thing you ask once you meet.

"Oh, yeah, I was curious about that too!" Haruka claps his hands together, and Shintaro still can hear the nervousness along his words. Oh, he can absolutely tell Haruka's been dying to ask about that. He wonders why none of them wanted to bring it up. "It looks important. You're pretty busy and you look like a prim and proper office lady."

Shintaro can't help bursting into laughter, "A prim and proper office lady!"

Takane just held on the steering wheel as Haruka insisted, "Well, it's true! Look at her!"

"I mean, _I guess,_ but it still sounds too funny," Shintaro snorts. "Especially because it's _Takane._ Wow. Hey, Takane, do you even play videogames anymore?"

"Wh– of course I don't," she turns to him red faced, which is great, because that means the teasing is going perfectly– Wait, what? _She doesn't play videogames anymore?_ "I don't have time for that."

"Oh," both he and Haruka speak at the same time, and the car feels empty.

...Guess she really is "prim and proper" now. Suddenly, it's not funny anymore.

Of course it's followed by silence, because as dumb as that was, that was probably way too shocking. Takane was a crazy ass gamer back then. It was all she lived for, really. Good luck if you managed a conversation with her that wasn't about a game. Haruka, with his stupid obvious crush on her, literally only got into videogames in his attempt of getting noticed by her. It even kind of worked.

He's being an idiot. All this time they've been doing their best to make this _not_ weird despite it's _clearly_ weird, and he's being an idiot. Boy, he shouldn't have asked anything.

Shintaro's about to ruin the whole mood for good and apologize when he hears Takane saying something along the lines of how now she's working for her parents, "Wait, _what._ "

He can't see her face because, again, he's in the dumb backseat and she's at the front. She was leaning her head down though, "Yeah, they moved back to Japan and have this big business company thing–"

"And you've been working there this entire time?"

"Uh," Takane shrugs, "Long enough, I guess. A few years."

They're all quiet for a moment, and as Shintaro looked for what else to say, Haruka dares to ask, "I never thought you'd do an office job, though. Haha..."

He probably added the laugh to try to lighten up the statement, but it didn't work. Shintaro nodded, because really, an office job is the most un-Takane thing ever.

"W – _well,_ it's not exactly an office job," she speaks in a lower volume, as if she didn't want them to hear. "It's more of a– Uh, I manage. Schedules. And things. And–"

"You're an assistant?"

"Shut up."

"Do you pick up coffee orders?"

" _Shut up._ "

Shintaro wanted to make a joke so bad, but he couldn't find it in him. He just... felt sorry for her. He clears his throat, "That's more unexpected than a wholeass office job, though. Why the hell do you do it?"

She obviously looks taken back, "Because... I need to pay bills?"

"And couldn't you find a job that wasn't... that?" he shoots, and both Haruka and Takane look back at him like he's insane. But not because of his implications; it was rather like they couldn't believe he was really gonna point out what everyone was thinking: "I mean... _your parents,_ really."

He scoffs, like the reason why it's all so shocking is obvious, but Takane looks at him like she couldn't believe what he just said. Haruka looked at her too, biting his lip, as if he feared her reaction.

 _You used to talk mad shit about them,_ Shintaro wanted to add as an explanation, but he controls himself.

However, apparently unaffected now, Takane turns back to the front, putting on her seat belt, "People change, Shintaro."

"Are you saying you changed or your parents changed?"

Takane doesn't answer, "So what are _you_ doing, Haruka?"

Of course she doesn't answer. Shintaro knew what she was trying to do, pretending to be all mature. She decides to ignore him to not yell at him, but oh, he knows she wants to. The car was still parked, Takane didn't have more work to do, so they could comfortably go on with their day. But no. Takane's asking Haruka what he does.

Shintaro swallows a little. That's why he didn't want to ask in the first place.

_They're gonna ask me what I do._

"Oh, nothing nearly as fancy as your thing," Haruka forces out a giggle, speaking lowly. "I just... show around in an art museum..."

"Like, a tour guide?"

"Yeah."

Shintaro raises an eyebrow.

...So Haruka and Takane have the most boring jobs in the world?

Suddenly, knowing they're miserable makes him feel better about himself. Does that say something bad about him?

(It absolutely does).

They used to be so creative; they made a freaking videogame together back then, seriously. And this is how they ended up? Just... wow. They seemed to be prime examples of people giving up on the magnitude of their dreams in order to appease capitalism and society. Tsk, tsk.

"But hey! What about you, Shintaro-kun?"

That's when Shintaro remembers; he's probably not one to talk, "I, um. Make songs? And they sell. Sometimes."

He won't say he's a freeloader at his sister's apartment. He just won't.

Haruka and Takane both nod with varied smiles, going, "Ah."

_Welp. We're all miserable. Good to know._

Somehow, now it felt like they were all in the same page. Or, in remotely close pages to each other's. Whatever. The point is that it kind of feels easier to think about the letter now. Shintaro thinks there's the right mood to talk about it; that being, dreadful.

The atmosphere in the car was too thick now, awkward enough to tempt Shintaro to call this a day, but then again, that was probably the perfect moment to bring it up. Instead of ruining a good moment, just take a moment that's been already ruined.

"So," he starts, clearing his throat. Where should he even begin... Haruka and Takane look at him from the front, not expressing a lot of interest. "D – do you guys remember Kano?"

"Um, not really–"

"Mr. Tateyama's son?" Haruka immediately goes, looking kind of baffled, which was a little confusing.

_...Why call him Mr. Tateyama's son and not Ayano's little brother?_

That was weird to Shintaro. Ayano was clearly the most common person in the equation, not Mr. Tateyama.

Though, perhaps he wanted to avoid mentioning Ayano. He could understand that, though it didn't give Shintaro the best starter for it. After all, what he wanted to say _was about Ayano._

"Yeah, him. So, anyway, I saw him um, not long ago–"

"Wait, wait," Haruka shakes his head, turning more properly despite his seat belt was probably limiting it. "You– you saw him recently!?"

"Jeez, Haruka, let the man speak," Takane rolled her eyes, which immediately makes Haruka blush in shame, which in return makes _Shintaro_ roll _his_ eyes. The fact that even after all this time Haruka seems to still have some sort of crush on Takane was ridiculous. "Stop repeating everything he's saying. What's wrong with this guy and why does he got you so shocked?"

"Um, _well,_ " Haruka scratches the back of his head, just as Shintaro's soul leaves his body. Seriously, he's been trying to bring this up for this long and they just got sidetracked with the first thing they heard. "Uuuh, well, I used to, like. Um, do art commissions."

Shintaro doesn't miss how that softens Takane's expression, "Oh?"

"Yeah– not anymore though! I still draw but I don't really, um, try to make a living out of it. Never tried it, really," Haruka sort of mumbles the last part, but he moves on rather quickly. "And! Well, Mr. Tateyama's son was a client, like last year or something."

"Kano?" Shintaro raises an eyebrow. Well, he knows close to nothing about that guy now, but it still sounded weird. "He doesn't... seem like an artsy kinda person."

"Oh, he's probably not. He never paid me."

"What?!"

As Shintaro and Takane seemed to lose their absolute minds, Haruka smiled awkwardly.

"What do you mean he never paid you!?"

"Like, you did the job and then he ran off?!"

"Yep!" Haruka laughs, though there was nothing funny about it. "It was such a big painting too, I lost so much time making it. I was super depressed! I was counting on that money for rent and– Um. Anyway!"

"Wh– wh–" Takane couldn't even speak, though just by looking at her you could tell her blood was boiling. She was fuming. "You couldn't like, sue him or whatever!?"

"Ehh, no, authorities didn't really care," he insisted to have that dumb smile on his face. "He changed his number and I didn't really know his address~ I tried almost everything you can think of. It was like he just vanished. That's why I'm surprised you saw him, hahaha..."

"Was he the reason you gave up on trying to pursue art as a living?" Shintaro asks, maybe insensitively, but he doesn't take it back. Haruka laughs,

"Goodness no, don't give him that much credit," he grimaces. "Just didn't work out– I also never said I ever pursued it as a living."

"Well, you didn't deny it."

Silence again.

Damn. Shintaro feels really bad dropping the actual bomb now.

Maybe... maybe he shouldn't. He was too busy feeling sorry for Haruka now. That really wasn't fair, for Haruka and Takane to give up on themselves like that.

Shintaro might be a lot of things, but at least he didn't give up on his passion.

Suddenly, Takane asks, "Shintaro, do you have Kano's number or something?"

"E – eh?" confused, he doesn't know what to answer for a second. "No, but, um, he mentioned he was moving back to his parents' house. Mr. Tateyama passed away, by the way."

Both Haruka and Takane seem to deflate from the front seat, the two of them going, "Oh."

If anything, Shintaro was the only one to not have a close relationship with that man. Ayano was his daughter and Haruka and Takane were his students, who got weirdly attached to him probably due to the fact Haruka and Takane's own dads were shit. 

Suddenly, the car was starting. Before anyone could ask where they were going, Takane announces, "I think I remember where that is."

Haruka, understandably, quickly freaks out, "Wait, what!?"

"Mr. Tateyama's house, I think I remember where it is."

_Again, not "Ayano's house"? Jeez._

"What!" Haruka held on his seat, "You can't be serious!"

"I'm dead serious. So serious I'll make him cry. Maybe break his teeth."

"Takane?!"

Shintaro can't bring himself to say anything as they head off to the Tateyama residence.

He doesn't know why he was expecting Haruka and Takane to say something once they see the house.

Because it's _Ayano's house._

When they came here, it was never for Mr. Tateyama. It was for Ayano. He was at least expecting them to stare at it melancholically, make a comment, _anything._ But no.

Takane's out of the car almost as fast as she had pulled over (which was really fucking fast), Haruka desperately going after her.

"Takane, Takane, this is a horrible idea," Shintaro heard him saying, but on his part, he was barely getting out of the car. Takane locks it as soon as he does, almost startling him.

The house looks exactly as it did back then, which made it all the more freakish to be here. Shintaro looked around, as if expecting to see familiar faces, but there's no one around. When he sees Haruka and Takane at the door, it hits him just how terrible this situation was (and he already knew it was terrible).

If they see Kano then maybe Kano will ask about the letter. Haruka and Takane don't even know about that yet, so that would be pretty fucking bad. He runs after them,

"Um, guys, maybe we shouldn't–"

Takane interrupts him, "All the lights are off."

"Yeah, so– huh?"

"See?" she points at the windows, and surely enough, it was dark inside. Shintaro sighed in relief, oh, _thank god–_ wait, where's Takane going.

"Takane?"

She seemed to be doing her way to the back of the house, and as she didn't wait for them, Haruka and Shintaro only look at each other in shared confusion before quickly trying to go and catch up with her. 

"Takane, what are you– TAKANE!?"

"Windows are open, too, look!" she beamed, closing and opening the window to prove her point. "Let's go!"

"Where!?"

"Inside to fuck shit up, obviously."

Oh, she's _insane._

"No fucking way," Shintaro shakes his head. "Oh, you're crazy. You're literally crazy. Let's get the hell out of here before someone calls the police."

"You're literally no fun. We could egg the house but _inside_ the house," she crossed her arms. "This bitch deserves it. He stole some good art from our buddy, shouldn't we give him a lesson?"

"That was _months_ ago, it doesn't matter–"

"It _does_ matter," Takane cuts him off. Her hands were in fists, and with her body upright, she looked up at Haruka with determination. "You don't deserve this. I'm not letting anyone fuck you over."

And Haruka, ever the absolute idiot, blushes. Of course he does. Shintaro really cannot stress enough just how fucking annoying Haruka's crush on Takane has always been. Back then it was very obviously requited, but now Takane wasn't as obvious and it was harder to tell. 

However, as they were distracted by Takane's heart stealer lines, she had already climbed through the window. It was fairly big, and honestly very fucking careless for it to be open if there was really no one inside, so a small _small_ piece of his mind told him "hey, maybe... the house is, in fact, not empty" but that feeling in his gut was easily mistaken by the anxiousness this situation was bringing him.

"Are you coming or not?"

Takane's question should be enough for Shintaro to yell out _fuck_ no, but for some reason he can't speak, and in his stead, Haruka nods, still with that embarrassed smile on his face. God, the man was clearly too lovestruck to think properly. He wishes he had a glass of water to throw on his face.

As to why is Shintaro following behind Haruka? Why, that is a very good question he does not have an answer for.

He feels his heart sink to his stomach when his feet touch the floor.

Standing inside the living room, everything was so weird. The lights are off, but he can see how some of the furniture was the same, just in different positions. The smell wasn't the same, and instead, it had the sort of smell a shirt that's been in your closet for too long would have. It makes him sigh.

"What are we even gonna do, anyway!?" he yells in a whisper. "Just to remind you: we are not seventeen. We could indeed all go to jail for breaking and entering."

"Jesus christ, Shintaro, you're so paranoid, calm the fuck down, no one is going to jail," Takane rolls her eyes, proving to be completely calm when she doesn't whisper. Seriously, what's wrong with this woman? "Who's gonna call the cops on us? The guy who stole from Haruka?"

"That's– huh," the fact Kano didn't pay Haruka was actually a good compromise if they did get caught by someone inside the house, but it still didn't calm Shintaro about whether or not somebody saw them. Also, when someone doesn't pay you for a job, breaking into their house isn't exactly on the list on what to do then.

"S – still, _what are we_ gonna do?" Haruka, sounding even more nervous than Shintaro himself, followed Takane closely behind as she began walking. "I mean, Shintaro-kun's right to a degree."

"Just to a degree!?"

Ignoring him, Haruka moves on, "We _are_ breaking and entering, and there's really nothing to do here–"

"I was thinking maybe we could go cut up his jeans or something!" Takane says, like it's genuinely a chill idea. She makes a turn towards the stairs, and as he and Haruka follow (god knows why they're following her, she's clearly insane), Shintaro catches a glimpse of something with the corner of his eye– "But then I thought, hey! What if we take the money he owes you!"

"NO!"

"I'm kidding, I just wanted to get you to yell," Takane goes, making Haruka's face go beet red and cover his mouth in embarrassment over the volume of his voice. "Let's go cut up some jeans!"

Shintaro only looked at them completely baffled. The wall of the stairs was full of pictures that had Ayano in them, and Haruka and Takane have not even bothered to lay one bit of attention on them. He saw how their eyes locked with the frames, he knows they know the pictures are there, so it's really just a fact they were avoiding it.

It bothered him so much. Just because it's been a long time it doesn't mean they shouldn't talk about it. _Because_ it's been so long they should talk about it. They were so immature back then; why can't they discuss it properly now?

He understands not bringing it up in order to avoid making things awkward, but this right here is just ridiculous. So ridiculous that the annoyance even gets heavier than the anxiousness. He almost wanted someone to bust them so they'd have to say "we're Ayano's old friends!" and force them to hear her name.

He huffs, butthurt enough to forget himself and not be scared of how he's walking behind them in this dark hallway. Okay, now that he thought about it, he's kind of scared. Shintaro takes a few more quick steps to be closer to Haruka and Takane. But he's angry, he swears.

There were a few boxes in the hallway, pointing on how Kano mentioned they were gonna move there, and remembering that kind of soothes Shintaro. Then it probably meant they haven't moved in yet? That meant the house was indeed empty and the open window is just a careless move from their part. God, he hopes so.

Takane, still walking like she owned the house, mildly stops in her tracks when something seems to catch her attention from the corner of her eye. Shintaro's about to groan, but when he catches up and also gets a small look of the room, he understands–

He saw an animal print bedspread. It was just obvious who this belonged to.

The other two just couldn't be. Kido was kind of the opposite of whatever energy an animal print bedspread has and Seto, as the animal lover he always was, was probably very opposed to Kano getting this despite it's probably not actual fur. Also there's a sex toy shamelessly placed on the nightstand. Yup, 100% Kano Shuuya. And–

Oh, god. Shintaro was so distracted being behind that he hadn't seen what Haruka and Takane were looking at; he only does when one of them turns on the lights.

"Is... is that–"

"Yeah," Haruka tiredly answers. "It is."

There was a huge painting hung at the wall, taking almost all the space in it. It was...

"It's hideous," Takane says, and well, Shintaro hadn't _made_ the painting, but ouch. She immediately realizes her tone, and turns to Haruka in a nervous manner, "I – I mean, it's super well done, but it's–"

"I know," Haruka sighed, running his hand across his face. "I hated making it, that's why it was all the more frustrating when he didn't pay for it."

The painting, of Kano himself, featured that smug idiot holding a cat on his lap and holding a martini in one hand. It made Shintaro feel hysterical, and if he weren't so mad and scared right now, he would probably be on the floor holding onto his stomach in laughter.

"Yikes, I can see why," Takane walked into the room, still wearing that apologetic face. Apologetic towards what exactly was unclear, but Shintaro understood the sentiment. Haruka was just a victim of the situation in so many ways. "Makes me wish he was here like initially intended. So I can break his teeth."

"Stop that!" Haruka goes, but he can't help a laugh. The way he laughs makes Takane smile, and as they glanced fondly at each other Shintaro felt like throwing up.

God, this sucks. They were supposed to go to an arcade and instead they got stuck with Takane running fancy errands for her parents and now in this weird vendetta for Haruka's honor thing.

He sighs, "Okay, well, whatever, just get on with it so we can leave–"

And then, the worst case scenario comes true.

They hear a door opening, followed by voices. They all quietly begin to lose their absolute shit.

Takane leans back outside to the hallway, coming back in with a bolt of her body, "Oh, shit, shit, the lights are on downstairs–"

"Oh, so now you're whispering?" Shintaro retorts, helpfully. He yells in a whisper, exasperated, "Also, yeah, the lights are on. What's more alarming, the lights or the fact there's _PEOPLE TALKING?"_

"Shut the fuck up and hide!"

Haruka and Shintaro both yelp when she pushes them, "Hide!?"

" _Yes!_ Hide!"

"Where!?"

"Under the bed!"

Shintaro has no time to consider that despite it being a king sized bed, it's still probably not big enough to hide three adults. So he only does consider it when half of Takane is stacked up on one side of his body, and the other half on Haruka, on some kind of lazy human pyramid.

"What is this."

"Takane, you're _heavy–_ "

Takane, being squished against the bed grill, turns her head to his side to send a death glare. Her face is too close, but Shintaro can't get flustered about that and how this is probably the closest to a woman he'll ever be, because she goes, "I have the perfect position to slam my fist against your balls, so be careful with what you say."

Shintaro swallows, "Noted."

"Oh, we forgot to turn off the light–" Takane curses under her breath, adding up to the list of horrible things currently happening. But nothing compares to the fact they could hear footsteps coming up.

Oh, isn't this wonderful.

Step, step, step.

Finally, a door swings open in the hallway, and as fast as it opened it shut. Silence.

Like thirty seconds pass by and– they hear the toilet flushing. Oh.

The door opens again. It closes. The footsteps start to go away but then–

They start coming here. Oh, he's probably trembling by now.

The three of them were so terrified they couldn't even speak up to point it out. Each step they heard felt like a punch in the stomach. The closer the sound got, the more his stomach turned in itself, and then– the lights turn off.

A voice that seemed to be too deep to belong to a woman whispers to herself, "That dumbass."

It was Kido. Kido thought Kano left the lights on. She began walking away, and once she did, Shintaro felt his soul come back to his body. He could tell Haruka and Takane's too; Haruka, because he saw him let out a shaky silent sigh, and Takane, because he felt her body relax.

They're still quiet even when they heard her clearly go back downstairs; they could hear voices, so it sounded like Kido was with someone. _Please_ don't let that someone be Kano.

"I thought my heart was gonna stop," Takane whispers, and Haruka and Shintaro nod, sharing the sentiment.

He sighs, praying no one else comes upstairs, but by the way things sounded everyone was pretty comfortable down there. Not that he could say the same for himself; his left arm and leg were already getting numb under Takane's weight, but when he tries moving she yelps, and before he could identify the reason, her elbow jabs in his stomach.

"ACK– It was an accident!" he says, now definitely leaving his arm still. He prefers to leave his arm numb than to accidentally grope her again and get beaten up. "I didn't know your butt was there!"

"We are compressed in a tiny space where else would my butt be, you dingus! Do something again and you're dead!" she says, speaking so lowly but so quickly that she seemed to be spitting out the words. "And stop squirming, it's gross! Be like Haruka and stay still!

Shintaro rolls his eyes and glances at Haruka to share a look of "she's so annoying" that he's probably not gonna approve of, but when he does, he just finds Haruka frozen up, just like Takane had said. Shintaro just has to roll his eyes again; even in a situation like this, Haruka's priorities lay on crushing on Takane. The knuckle head kept blushing and trying to keep a straight face, notably nervous about the close contact with her. It made Shintaro want to poke his eyes out.

"Shintaro, is there a window?" Takane suddenly says, and before he could say "why would I know", she clarifies, "You can lean your head out and check."

Ugh, she's right. Haruka's on the side that faces the door, so it's not like he could check, and Takane was too busy being the girl squished between them and the mattress. It isn't as sexy as he'd hope a sentence like that being.

Sighing, making sure to be open about how grumpy he is, he does lean out to see, and finds the slightest bit of hope when he does see a window. Though said hope is as quick to go away when he realizes what it means, "You aren't expecting us to jump off the fucking window, right?"

"What other idea do you have? I'd be delighted to hear it, please do share!"

"Ugh!"

"Listen, if they stay downstairs we can just leave through this window, a broken limb is better than getting caught."

"Says who! We wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for you!"

"Oh, shut up! You followed me because you wanted to!"

"I – I'm sorry," Haruka suddenly goes, making them both awkwardly turn their heads towards him. "I feel like it's my fault. I shouldn't have said anything to begin with."

Well, duh! Seems like all this time apart made Haruka forget Takane would kill people for him. Jeez.

Shintaro was about to perhaps voice that thought and one, make things awkward, two, be insensitive. But luckily Takane spares that when she's quicker to speak, "Dude, no way. I'm super happy you spoke up. What happened sucks, it really does. The fact I went batshit isn't your fault."

"Hahaha, well, if I took your advice back then maybe that wouldn't have happened," Haruka goes, gloomily. He looks at Takane with a certain feeling; Shintaro can't quite find the word. Takane, on her part, was facing him, so Shintaro couldn't see the face she was making. "But I guess I've always let people walk all over me..."

"Yeah, I guess," she agrees, ever the sweetheart. She moves her head again, facing forward now (that is, against their humble bed roof), and Shintaro sees the way her fingers curl nervously around the wood of the grill. "But I'm... I guess I'm sorry I wasn't there to look out for you. If I had been there I would've... I would've..."

Haruka takes over when she seems to be unable to find something to say, "Driven to his place and broken into his house?"

She giggles, "Yeah, something stupid like that I guess."

He shares the sentiment and chuckles back, and Shintaro kind of wants to just yell "oh god, just shoot me." He has no idea what the fuck he's witnessing, but he sure as hell knows right now is just _not the time._ On top of it, it's the first time either of them has acknowledged they've drifted apart and how much it sucks, and Shintaro's angry because _it doesn't involve him._

They're just talking about each other and to each other. Not a single word to him! Great! That feels just great.

Honestly, a broken limb is better than any of this. Shintaro scoops away from them, getting out from under the bed. Even if half of his body was kind of numb, it wasn't long enough to make them completely useless, so he's able to get up just fine. He doesn't check if Haruka and Takane follow behind, but he can hear that they do.

He unlocks the window and leans forward; alright, so there's part of the roof which is... good, he guesses, because it means they wont have to jump off the fucking window. They'll just jump off the roof tiles, which is only slightly lower. Yay for that, fucking apparently.

"Oh, great! Roof!" Takane goes, leaning next to him. "I mean it's not much but the fall won't be as painful from there."

"It hasn't hit me yet that we actually have to jump off the window," Haruka simply comments, to which Takane shakes her head,

"Not the window, the roof."

"Somehow that sounds worse."

"It's not worse! It's even on a slide, so it'll be lower and lower. Like stairs, just minus the comodity," she tries to reassure, but of course it doesn't work. "Besides, you two are tall! If you get yourselves down correctly, you can hang by your hands and the distance between the ground and your feet won't even be that big."

"That–" Shintaro thinks about it for a moment. "Is actually true. Wow."

"See! I can go last and you suckers can grab my tiny frail body when I hang so I don't crack in a million pieces, how does that sound?"

Shintaro would make a joke like "or we just abandon you here", but he knows Haruka will counterattack with "I wouldn't do that!" and it'd potentionally give them room to have another gross moment. So he stays quiet and just nods.

"Great! Then, one of you two have to go first."

Oh, right, slight problem. The bravest of them is kind of, well, Takane, and she won't be able to be the first. Ugh.

"Not it!" Shintaro speaks up first, just as Haruka opened his mouth. He pouted. "Sorry dude. It's survival."

"I'm scared of heights though!" Haruka complains. Both Shintaro and Takane open their mouths, "Don't point out my own height."

"Sorry, Haruka! As the longest of us all you have to go first!" Takane puts her hands on his back, which Shintaro can _see_ how it sent a shock through Haruka's body. However, she's not as tender as he probably hopes. She just pushes him forward towards the window. "Now jump out the window before I lose my mind."

Haruka puts his hands against his chest and looks at her, then at Shintaro, and then out the window, completely distressed. Just as Shintaro thought he'd keep whining, the mad man went ahead and started climbing out.

_Wow. Guess he did change a bit these last few years._

Or maybe he just did it because Takane asked him to, which would mean he didn't change in the slightest. But really, who knows.

"Wow, he's actually doing really well," Shintaro goes, and Haruka looks up at him from the roof,

"I mean, thanks. I'm terrified though," Haruka says, continuing to go carefully.

Well, yeah, the distance isn't that big for him to not hear. Shintaro smiles, and turns to Takane, "Hey, Takane, Haruka's actually doing really good– _Oh my god what are you doing."_

Now holding the hideous Kano painting against the wall, Takane smiles, "Retrieving the treasure!"

Does she think this is a videogame?

"The fuck do you want that for!" Shintaro snaps (in a whisper, of course). "It's huge, too! It won't even fit through the window!"

"Not with that attitude!" Takane complains, walking over to him and dragging the painting with her. "Now it's your turn! Jump off the window!"

"Huh, what!?" Shintaro turns again to the window, finding Haruka nowhere to be seen. "Haruka!?"

A hand doing thumbs up suddenly appears at the bottom of the roof tiles, and Shintaro sighs in relief to recognize the skinny pale hand. Wait– he reaches it even from down there?! Haruka could just climb back up if he wanted to!

"Jesus, he's tall," Takane says under her breath. "So! You should be fine, Shintaro! C'mon!"

He puts his hands on the frame of the window, swallows, and takes a deep breath. Okay–

"Ack, Takane, stop pushing me!" Shintaro complains, and he even feels the corner of the painting pinching him from behind. "Ugh..."

One moment you're calling up your old highschool friends for lunch and in the next one you're jumping off a window of a house you broke into with them. This is absolutely not what he signed up for.

And somehow, with that in mind, Shintaro manages to climb up the window, and even go through it in only one movement. Oh, boy, this is high. Oh, no.

The tiles aren't exactly easy to grab onto, and he's sure he's getting dust all over his pants as he carefully slides down, but those just can't be his main worries at the moment. He has to make an effort to avoid closing his eyes and actually see what he's doing, but it's difficult.

It feels a little too far, but eventually his feet find the end, and he sees Haruka's smiling face already. He offers more thumbs up, but Shintaro can only groan as he turns around to properly slide down by holding with his hands.

And so, his feet are hanging and then they're suddenly on the ground. Just as Takane said, the distance between their feet and the ground wasn't big– but he has to admit his ankles and knees do hurt a little. Not to mention his arms.

"Too much work out for one day," says Shintaro, making Haruka chuckle.

"Well, we aren't done, we need to make sure Takane gets here safely, she'll have a bigger distance to deal with– Oh my god, what is she doing."

"Huh?" when Shintaro looks up, he meets Kano's face looking right at him. Well, Kano's painted face. He'd have a heart attack if it was the real thing. The painting comes down at them diagonally, and it's definitely not quiet when it rolls down and crashes on the grass, both Haruka and Shintaro having to move out of the way to avoid getting tackled by it.

"Oh my god! This is stealing!" Haruka freaks out, but then his face becomes a bit more comprehensive. "Hm. Well, _I mean–_ "

"He did steal from you first, technically–"

"Yeah but what are we supposed to do with this? It's not exactly a... _tasteful_ painting. I – I guess I could cover it up with gesso and start a new one over it. It'd be nice to paint on something this big again... these canvases are pretty expensive, especially this big, so it's been a while since I've bought one. Though I'd have to put up with the texture the painting already has–"

"Um, that's great, Haruka, but a little help over here?" 

At the sound of Takane's voice, they both turn around to find her hanging from the same place they did before, except of course– her feet are _way_ too far away from the ground.

But, since he's Shintaro, the first thing he sees when he turns around is, "Gah! Your ass is on my face!"

"What's with you and my ass!"

"I told you I didn't grab it on purpose earlier!"

"Ugh, you're so gross! Don't touch me! Haruka, you do it!"

"Yeah, sure, get Haruka to get his face on your ass, he won't pass out or anything."

"CAN YOU BE QUIET!"

Haruka, at the sound of the argument, just looks at her with his hands on the air, trying to find a way to grab her. With all the remarks, he was obviously just getting more awkward, "Um, Shintaro-kun's right though, there's no way to grab you that isn't inappropiate!"

"Oh my god!" Takane kicked the air. One of her heels falls on the grass. "You stupid virgins! My arms hurt!"

"Wow, that's low!"

She's definitely not getting help from him now!

On his part, Haruka circles her and gets under the roof, facing her front, "Maybe from here it'll be eaiser! You can grab on me too!"

He wraps his arms around her, and slowly, Takane lets go. They both kind of lose balance, since Haruka's toothpick arms really wouldn't be of much help, so Shintaro rushes to help them _not_ fall over.

But alas, they were losing balance _his_ way, so as soon as he approaches them they bump onto him and as they fly the opposite way, Shintaro bounces away towards a window. A window he manages to grab onto to not end up on the ground, and a window that when he opens his eyes, he sees it's the one they came in through, and he can see the lights of the living room on.

And also– well, the people inside, looking right back at him. The people in question are Kido Tsubomi and... Momo. Momo, all dressed up in the cute clothes she had in the morning when he asked her where she was going.

His sister looks at him. He looks at her. Kido looks at both. His sister's face transforms into anger. His face transforms into fear. Kido's face is just confusion from start to finish. He hears the muffled "BIG BROTHER!" through the glass.

_Oh, boy._

He gets back on his feet again, but as he does Momo was already trotting towards him from inside, almost slamming his face off when she violently swings open one side of the window.

Suddenly faced with his sister, Shintaro shivers as Momo's red face spits anger at him, "What the _hell_ are you doing!"

"I – I, uh–" from his side, he could see where Haruka and Takane themselves had landed, but they were also now back on their feet and taking away the painting in a panic. To have Momo's face looking at him and those two idiots running away in the background would be comical in literally any other situation that wasn't this. "I was just– I was just..."

_WHAT KIND OF EXCUSE SHOULD I EVEN SAY!?_

"You were spying on my date weren't you!"

"I was– HUH!? DATE!?"

"You were, weren't you!?

"I was just...!" he sees behind Momo that Haruka and Takane are gone, and his heart sinks to his stomach. Well, isn't that nice. Shintaro looks back at her, his expression probably translating his exhaustion, and he sighs, "...Yes. I was– I was spying on you."

"Ugh, I knew it! I knew there was something weird going on right when you asked me where I was going today!" Momo kept going, and now Shintaro isn't sure the red in her face was because of anger. "B – but this is way too weird, even for you!"

Shintaro's eyes widen, getting a sour taste in his mouth at the words. To think his own sister sensed something so wrong just because he casually asked her what was she up to– it hurt. It hurt because he digged that response for himself. For never asking before, for never caring before.

"I was just... um," Shintaro begins, not even sure of what to say. "I just. Wanted... to make sure you were safe. But it's always difficult to say this stuff out loud so I guess that–"

He groans.

"Spying on you was the best next thing?"

Momo's eyes soften at his words, and of course he feels guilty for lying, but he can't just go and tell her "oh, no, don't worry, I was just escaping from the house since I broke in. You being here was simply a coincidence."

Besides, getting some points with her wouldn't suck. Even if he's only got himself to blame, it's not the most fun to live at her apartment and have her snap at him for every little thing. It's like he can't even begin to try to make things right anymore.

"Oh," Momo simply says, not nearly as annoyed. "...W – _well,_ it's still weird, you know!?"

"Y – yeah. I'm sorry. I was just leaving, really. That's when I, um, lost my balance."

"Oh..." she repeats, and as awkwardness descended on them, Kido also got up from the couch to walk over to her. Momo looks up at her when she places a hand on her shoulder,

"It'd be nice to get to know each other at some point, given that me and your sister have been together for quite some time now," Kido says, and Shintaro nods, because this woman just had a really frightening energy around her. Kind of like Takane's, but this one was colder in a different way. Despite that, she smiles, "But don't worry, she's safe. I'll take care of her."

_How do I tell her I didn't even know she was into women?_

"U – um, thank you. Yeah," Shintaro just nods, and points over his shoulder. "So, yeah I should be going now. Um. See you at home?"

Momo, probably dying of embarrassment by this point, grumpily looks away, "N – no, I'll probably spend the night here."

"Oh. Okay, cool, cool. Um. See you– whenever, I guess."

"Yep."

"Bye."

"Bye."

And so, Shintaro begins walking away. And by walking he means running. Okay, this was a roller coaster.

So his sister is a lesbian and she also has a girlfriend and that girlfriend is Shintaro's deceased highschool best friend's little sister? Whose brother also scammed another of Shintaro's highschool friends? Jesus fucking christ?

He feels his soul come back to his body when he sees Takane's car still parked where it was. Really, there's no reason for him to think they left, but that's what he had thought anyway. They don't seem to notice him as he approaches, so he can see they seem to be discussing something inside. Something personal that had both of them avoiding eye contact.

Not that Shintaro gives a shit. He opens the door to the backseat and gets in.

"H – hey! Shintaro-kun! How'd it go!"

"You're both assholes, leaving me like that," he says, trying to lean back on the seat, but guess what, the stupid fucking painting was taking over all of it, so good luck with that. "What the hell, man."

" _Well,_ sorry! We heard someone yell "big brother" so we assumed it was your sister in there. Bet it'd be easier to explain yourself than us as well. Also, we had the painting."

"Whatever! My sister thinks I was spying on her during her date, who, by the way, is Kido. You remember Kido? Yeah. Apparently my sister is gay."

"What, you didn't know?"

"WHY WOULD I KNOW! Also, excuse me," Shintaro leans forward, "How do _you_ know, Takane?"

"I follow her on Instagram and Twitter, duh?"

"Jesus," Shintaro leans back against the painting, not even making sure to be careful. God, how did they even get it to fit in here. "So you don't talk to me for like ten years but you follow my sister on social media?"

Silence.

...Okay, he might've not thought his words through.

Haruka clears his throat. Takane starts the car.

* * *

"That was _sooo!_ scary!"

He simply keeps quiet and takes anohter sip of his soda as Haruka and Takane excitably chatted with each other, sitting on the floor at the coffee table. Shintaro himself was sitting crisscrossed on the couch. Again, he freeloads at his sister's place, so is he anyone to bring people over without her permission? No. But did he do it anyway? Yes.

The reason why is not nearly as easy to answer, though. He wishes he knew why after the hectic day he had, he still wanted to hang out with them.

When he thought that, the bag that held the letter felt like it was screaming at him. _Oh, yeah._

He sighs.

"–Still, I'm not even sure what to do with it. I guess I'm happy to have gotten such a big canvas back, but it's gonna be a pain to cover it up and stuff~" Haruka kept going, and Takane just nodded,

"But you gotta! Why would we want a painting of that guy, anyway! I mean it's really well done and all, but all I wanna do to it is draw a mustache on him and then throw it in the river."

Haruka laughs, "Well, that's not a bad idea. I'd feel sorry to cover up a client's order..."

"Huuuh! Even if he's a little shit that didn't pay!?"

"Yep... even like that."

Takane frowned, and for the first time in the entire day, she looked fully like herself. She got her hair down when they arrived, and the beer she was having was probably to blame by the way she spoke more freely than she had been. More like she used to.

With a sudden smirk, she points at Haruka, "Then! What if I commission you to cover it up?"

Haruka looks away from his own drink (one of Momo's juices; Shintaro wasn't gonna share his soda), completely taken back, "What!?"

"Yeah! I mean, if the problem's that you feel bad covering up a client's order then just cover it up with another one!" she reasons, nodding to herself. "This next client will even pay you and all. Might leave a tip, even~"

Shintaro sees the other empty can of beer next to her when she slurrs her words like that. Hm. She didn't even seem to be tipsy, but she sure as heck was scooping closer to where Haruka was sitting. Ew.

"I couldn't do that! Besides, I'm not doing commissions anymore. And even if I was, I'd give you something for free."

Takane immediately crosses her arms, "What kinda business is that!"

"I – I don't know, I'd just feel bad making you give me money..." Haruka rubs the back of his neck, but she only huffs,

"You wouldn't be making me do anything! I'd be paying for a service I'm asking for, jeez! What world do you live in!"

Haruka laughs, "You're way too sweet, but really, you don't need to–"

"I don't need to! I want to! I want a painting of– uuuh, fucking... I don't know, I can't think of anything. Nothing that isn't nerdy, anyway."

Shintaro, in his attempt of forcing himself to get into the conversation, looks away from his bag and adds, "Nothing nerdy as in...?"

"Dunno, videogames."

"But I thought you said you didn't play videogames anymore?"

In just one second, Takane's face goes red, just like it did in the highschool days. There were a few things to point out here.

One, she might be a little tipsy after all. Two, this was the first time Takane showed any kind of sign to being the person she used to be, other than her eternal grumpiness. And three, she lied.

She looks down in embarrassment, drowning a groan in the beer. Haruka, all the more shocked than Shintaro, goes, "Takane? Were you lying earlier today, then?"

"Ghhh, big deal!" she exclaims. "I just wanted you guys to take me seriously, okay!? I have this stupid fancy job and all. I didn't want you to think I was still the same loser from back then."

"You were never a loser, Takane! You've always been so cool!" Haruka starts going off, because of course he does, but Takane waves a dismissive hand at him.

"Ugh, don't start. Don't take it personal that I didn't say the truth, it's just..." she sighed. "It's just... a lie for my own sake, I guess. I – I wish I was actually "prim and proper" like you guys said... or whatever." 

Shintaro felt a zoom into his brain as she said that and Haruka proceeded to try to reassure her.

Just... what was going on. This is not at all the same loser from back then. This is a different brand of loser. In fact, compared to this Takane who's talking right now, the one from back then is a fucking winner.

Just who is this woman? Enomoto Takane doesn't care about being prim and proper. She doesn't care about a fancy job, and she sure as hell doesn't care about her parents. What's with her, wanting to become the type of person she always poked fun at? So dull, so empty. Is she serious?

"Wh – what?" it's not until Takane's small inquiry of shock that Shintaro realizes he's said all of that out loud.

He was leaning forward, his knuckles turning white as he grabbed on his sleeves to speak. Haruka and Takane both watched him in shock, but soon their expressions started to shift to other emotions: Takane's shifts into satire. Haruka's shifts into fear of what's to come.

However, he decides not to try and make his way out of it; it's what he genuinely thinks, and he just needs to say it. He looks away, somewhat diffident, "Yeah. What I said."

"Well excuse me," Takane laughs sardonically, glancing at Haruka in a "can you believe this guy" manner. It makes Shintaro even more annoyed. "I didn't know you knew me so well! Please, tell me more!"

"Well, just look at the way you've been avoiding to yell at me for the whole day!" he crosses his arms, "You think you're _so_ mature, with your whole little office lady outfit and attitude. You gave up on yourself, Takane! _Excuse me_ for pointing it out!"

"Oh, oh, so you _do_ know me! You know me so well!" she leans forward, the beer making an empty sound when she places it on the coffee table. Apparently, she wasn't able to keep the sarcastic answers up for very long, because as soon as her face changes, she spits out, " _I_ gave up on myself? Says you, unemployed loser who freeloads at his sister's!"

His eyes widen, "How'd you–"

Takane slams her hands against the table, "I FOLLOW YOUR SISTER ON TWITTER!"

At the sight of the situation obviously going downhill, Haruka cuts in with a nervous laugh, "Okay! I think we should relax–"

Shintaro shakes his head, "And you too, Haruka!"

"H – huh?"

"You're the same as ever! Just letting everyone walk over you to the point you let yourself do it! Respect your own skin a little, man! Jesus!" he tells him, and he can't see the face Haruka makes because Takane quickly gets in the way,

"Don't talk to him like that!"

"I'm pretty sure he can speak for himself, Takane. We get it," Shintaro rolls his eyes, which only drives Takane to practically growl at him. "Like, seriously, it's ridiculous that you guys ended up this way."

They both stare at him in disbelief. There's one thing certain based on those looks alone; his words hurt them.

...He wonders why did they even stop talking in the first place, and although the reason seems obvious, the memories are too fuzzy to be sure. That's because he's been doing his best to forget about all of it. About highschool, about Haruka, about Takane. About Ayano.

Shintaro barely remembers things after Ayano died because he made the specific effort to forget.

In a moment like that, they needed one another more than anything, but for some reason they decided to do the exact oppposite. Ayano was gone, and apparently so was their friendship.

That's why Shintaro's not sure he even wants to remember. She wasn't there to glue the group together anymore, so it simply broke apart. That's what happened. 

So he doesn't actually wonder why they stopped talking. He knows. He just laments it, and wishes it hadn't turned out that way. He wishes they could've healed together back then, so it wouldn't _be so fucking hard to ruin it now._

But that's kind of Shintaro's talent; ruining things.

"...And all because of Ayano?" he says, not affording to look at them anymore. Since the first moment they reunited, Shintaro wondered which one of them would be the first to mention her name. Of course it just ended up being him.

However, when Takane speaks up in a rather surprised tone, Shintaro feels his stomach turn in itself, "...Wait, what does Ayano-chan have to do with anything?"

Shintaro blinks at her, then at Haruka, who also looked genuinely confused. He snaps, "Are you kidding! We all fell apart when Ayano died!"

 _Ouch._ Maybe he should have used that word. But hey, he did and it happened. Both Haruka and Takane seem to flinch at the mention.

"Wh – what?" the sole allusion of Ayano seemed to soften Takane, because there was no trace left of the anger display she had done a minute ago. She shares a look with Haruka, and shakes her head, "No. I mean, yeah, but no."

"What do you mean yeah but no," Shintaro answers in a flash. He felt his heart throbbing in his chest; finally being able to talk about something that haunted him for so long only to be told... no? "Ayano died and we all just– stopped talking to each other! We never even talked about it. We went to her fucking house today, for god's sake, and neither of you said _a word!_ You weren't even capable of pointing at one picture of her! Hasn't it been long enough to _fucking talk about it!?_ "

Takane turns on the angry switch again, "Um, no, I think it's the opposite. I think it's been long enough to stop fucking thinking about it. But I mean good to know you're the same as fucking ever, Shintaro. Real nice!"

"What is that supposed to mean!?"

"It means you were never able to move on, dude! We didn't stop talking to each other because Ayano-chan died, _you_ stopped talking to _us_ because Ayano-chan died!" she shoots, and his brain felt like it was falling apart.

His head hurt, as if it were struggling to remember something (and it probably was), but the silence only favoured his anxiety, so he finally says, "What?"

Seems like the letter didn't actually unlock _all_ the memories.

"It was hard for us too, Shintaro," Takane says, covering her face in exhaustion. "Haruka and I were doing summer school the day it happened. We were in the same building. She talked to me _on her way to the roof._ "

Shintaro feels his throat dry up.

"But you wouldn't know that, would you?" she glares at him from in between her fingers, and doesn't push Haruka away when he puts a hand on her shoulder. "Because oh, it was harder on you, wasn't it? You lost a friend, didn't you? Well, guess what. Haruka and I lost two friends."

He looks at Haruka, looking for some kind of confirmation that second friend is supposed to be Shintaro himself, but he refuses to look back at him. He sighs, "We tried so hard to reach out to you, Shintaro-kun. We... we kept talking to your sister and your mom to get any updates on how you were doing and– and we did that for... well, two years. Until we just... stopped, I guess."

"To be pretty fucking honest, I was surprised to see you were even alive now," Takane says, and Haruka immediately clicks his tongue,

"Takane!"

"What! It's true! You were thinking it too!"

Shintaro shakes his head, stuttering as he scattered around his mind in search for words and trying to not overthink what Takane said. It's not like he hadn't thought about that before, especially during that time.

"B – but... No, no, _no._ We _all_ drifted apart from _each other,_ we–"

For what it seems like the millionth time, Haruka and Takane share a look. But this time it's quick, and awkward, and it wasn't a shared agreement on Shintaro being nuts. They both look away from each other in a swift, and Shintaro figures it out even before Takane says,

"Haruka and I are a different story."

"Jesus christ," Shintaro, still shaking his head, runs a hand through his hair. "You guys _dated?"_

Haruka and Takane answer at the same time:

"Yes."

"No."

And then they look at each other, almost annoyed. Haruka gestures at her to Shintaro as a way of saying "see the problem?" but Takane swats his hand away in annoyance. If they weren't dealing with a heavier issue, Shintaro would laugh.

She huffs before mumbling, "Fine. Yeah, something like that, I guess."

Haruka, uncharacteristically cold, just goes, "Ah, so you finally admit it."

Takane, characteristically cold, answers, "Shut up."

But really, it all made sense now. All their stares and the whole "if I had been there for you" discourse from before– well, to Shintaro they still made sense, they had always been close, but now with this second facet of context it was just heavier.

However, its implications only weirded him out even more– first, it meant they broke up, which in itself sounds insane. Secondly– _what do you mean they kept in contact even after Ayano died?_

Well, he _guessed_ something like that, but not like this. He just thought they were present enough in each other's lives, not this. 

So, suddenly awkward (well, probably more than before), Shintaro goes, "Uh... and what happened?"

It's probably an insensitive question to make, but _hey,_ you can't blame him for being curious. Haruka lets out a breath and looks up as if he didn't know exactly what to answer and was thinking of an answer, while Takane just kept looking away with the same stoic expression.

So it's odd when she's the one to answer, "I – I was scared of vulnerability and relationships."

Oh.

Shintaro squints, "Are you being sarcastic or did you go to therapy?"

"I went to therapy," she lays back on the floor, letting out a tired sigh. He blinks at her in surprise– he really wasn't expecting that answer. "You should try it."

Honestly, that's fair. Shintaro sighs as well, laying back on the couch, and when his eyes land on Haruka he almost laughs. He was looking at Takane in shock, obviously taken back by the clarity in her words, to which Takane evidently did her best to avoid. But it's not like she can nonplus him like that and then afford to ignore him, really.

So Haruka, albeit nervously, says, "I was too much, too. B – back then, I mean. I – I came on too strong."

"Well, I also led you on," Takane still avoided eye contact. If Haruka was shocked before, he was just astonished by now. "Neither of us handled it really well, let's just say."

Haruka answers with a small "yeah" that isn't even audible as he looks away, but Shintaro doesn't miss the tiny smile on his face as he does so. It was almost excited; hopeful. He remembers all the little moments they've had during the day, plus the conversation they must've had in the car while he was dealing with Momo.

Yeah. Whatever was going on was probably gonna go somewhere. However, the attention hadn't been on him for a while now, and when it's like that Shintaro apparently gets jittery because he suddenly blurts out, "She wrote me a letter."

He refuses to look at them, hating the way his voice gets shakier and shakier as he speaks those words. It felt so stupid.

However, the silence he's met with only makes him even more nervous, and as seconds went by, it only felt denser. For some reason he kept waiting to hear something else, but as it was seemingly his turn to speak, it was useless.

"Can you please say something?" he says, drowning his face on his hands. 

Takane sat up again, and once her mouth stops stuttering the word "what" she goes, "What do you mean she wrote a letter for you? What, she came back from the dead to write you a letter? How–"

"I think he means that she wrote one before it happened. Like a goodbye letter?" Haruka suggests, his voice low. Or perhaps it seemed that way because of how loud he and Takane were in contrast. She widens her eyes at the theory, and when Shintaro nods, she goes,

"Wh– and? And you never told us?"

"No, it's–" he groans. "Mr. Tateyama hid it– Kano found it while he was cleaning around the house after he passed away and gave it to me. That's what I was trying to tell you guys this afternoon before you sidetracked with literally the first thing you heard."

"Oh," Haruka goes, and pauses as he takes in the information. "...Th – then, is that why you called us?"

"I guess," Shintaro shrugs. "I just... I just had this urge to see you, I – I suppose."

"Oh."

Silence.

"And what did the letter say?" Takane asks, eventually. Shintaro shakes his head,

"I haven't read it yet."

Haruka's question is worse, "She didn't leave anything for us?"

The question made his heart squeeze inside his chest. Shintaro shakes his head again. He sees the way Haruka and Takane deflate in sadness.

Takane covers her face, "It's been way too damn long to be crying about this again."

"Who's crying?"

"No one," she says, mimicking him and shaking her head as well. However, her voice becomes shaky as she carried on, "But I keep remembering that I saw her before she went to the roof and I keep... wondering if... I was the last person she talked to. If I had noticed something was off, if maybe I had asked her anything– but she seemed so _normal._ "

His stomach hurt as he listened to her; that did seem to be awful. It was like her equivalent to the when he pretended he hadn't heard Ayano cry in the classroom... but he's sure Takane wouldn't have walked out on her. 

Takane kept being haunted by the fact she didn't see anything wrong. Shintaro was haunted by the fact he knew things were wrong and he did nothing.

Haruka comes back to aiding her, "There's no way you could've know."

"I _know._ But it's just, you know, a doubt one has to live with," she rubs her eyes, and when she looks up Shintaro can see her smeared mascara around her eyes, but he doesn't find it in him to even consider making fun of her. He knew her eyes were watery. "I – I miss her too, you know? No matter how much time passes, I still miss her."

Shintaro looks down, "Yeah. I know."

He hears a tiny sob, and his eyes dart directly towards Takane, since she was the one teary eyed. But when he looks at her he only finds her looking at Haruka in surprise, now aiding him the same way he aided her.

On his part, Haruka simply held a hand on his mouth, and as tears rushed down his face he stared at them with embarrassment, like he wasn't expecting to be seen or heard. He uncovers his mouth to say, "I was just remembering that when Takane and I had that fight I, um– I called Ayano-chan on the phone. Because I was sad and I didn't have anyone to talk to."

He chokes out another sob.

"Even though I knew she wouldn't pick up."

It stings Shintaro that he had tried calling a dead person rather than him, but he could understand why. He's not sure he would've picked up, after all.

Takane lays her head against Haruka's arm (she was too short to reach his shoulder properly), and smiles a bit despite her eyes weren't able to push back the tears anymore, "...I keep moving her number to every new phone everytime I change it, even if I always know I won't use it."

The smile disappears as quick as it appeared, and all of a sudden, Haruka and Takane were whimpering on each other like it was August 16th.

Silence descends onto them, and honestly, Shintaro felt even more reluctant to read the letter than before. He hadn't been able to quite point a reason why, but after this, it might be because he doesn't want to open that door to the past.

He can be so weird, being so stuck on the old days and the way he used to act, to be so haunted by all his memories and refuse to move on, but at the same time to be so, so utterly terrified of it that the tiniest thing that could be related to it can send him to spiral down into regrets. It's so weird how he's always done his best to forget but at the same time he refuses to, well, forget.

It's tiresome. Really, really tiresome, and he seriously needed to work on it. And so, Shintaro whimpers too as he reaches over his bag to grab the letter.

Time didn't stop as the three of them caught up on tears.

* * *

"Big bro."

Momo's nagging voice wakes him up, like on many other days.

And like on many other days, Shintaro just turns over and ignores her to keep sleeping, mumbling, "Leave me alone."

"I just want you to tell me what's this whole homeless convention I come home to!" she starts shaking him, and as he groans, her words somehow get to his brain. Making an effort, Shintaro moves on the couch to see what she means, and surely enough, Haruka and Takane were also asleep in the living room.

Except they were spooning on the floor, using some couch cushions as pillows. He loosely remembers them grabbing them because they were uncomfortable. The fact they were cuddling made him want to wake them up as much as it made him want to let them be. There were empty cans of beers, juice and soda around and on the coffee table. Hm, well, yikes. He can see why his sister wouldn't be happy with his.

But Shintaro can only grimace, "...I'll clean it up, promise."

However, Momo didn't seem as mad as she usually is when he makes a mess of her apartment. She just makes a tired smile, and rolls her eyes, "You better. I'm happy you're hanging out with them again, though."

She turns to the hallway, probably to go to her bedroom, and as she did she loudly talked about how they ran out of toilet paper and if he'd be oh so kind to go out to buy some while she's at work. 

He braces himself up with his elbows, and looks into the direction of her voice in shock. Wow.

For some reason, it felt like things between him and his sister were going to start going better.

On the floor, Takane started to show signs of life as she groaned. Shintaro shared the sentiment of the groans, so he asks, "Slept well?"

"No," she says, stretching her arms and moving to lay on her back. Her makeup was a mess on her face, and her clean white shirt was wrinkled and untucked from her tube skirt. Haruka's arm lays across her stomach, and she turns to stare at him for a second before turning her attention back to Shintaro. "Not a word."

"I wasn't gonna say anything."

She huffs, reaching over the coffee table to grab her phone. On his part, he simply sits up with a yawn and rubs the sleep out of his eyes, wondering where the hell did he leave his own phone when all of a sudden Takane lets out a scream.

"IT'S TEN!?" she sits up in a bolt, making Haruka's eyes open all of a sudden.

Shintaro makes a face, "Jesus, don't yell– God, it's ten? Ew, it's so early..."

"Shut up, I'm so fucking late. My mom's going to kill me," Takane rapidly typed on her phone, biting on her lip. "I won't be able to shower or get a change of clothes– Ugh, I'm such a fucking mess."

"It's ten!" Haruka, suddenly back to life too, bolted up in a similar way Takane did, also looking at his phone. "I had to be at work at nine!"

"I had to be there at work at _eight!_ "

"It's not a competition, Takane. Both of you are late as hell and that's what matters."

"SHUT IT, I got like a million messages to answer and a million coffee orders to pick up–"

Ah, yes, Takane's wonderful and important assistant job. Last night she had expressed her desire to quit and tell her parents to fuck off so Shintaro would like to answer her current freakout with an eloquent "fuck that job" but she did also express her need of having to pay bills, so perhaps that could wait. Baby steps, baby steps.

As Shintaro comfortably laid back on the couch, Haruka and Takane were taking turns in the bathroom and freaking out over other things. Ah, jobs. Good thing he doesn't have to deal with those, huh?

...

Well, yeah, maybe he should start looking for one.

Shintaro makes an effort to get up too since someone _had_ to go and open the door for them, and Haruka and Takane were so freaking fast they were already at the door putting their shoes on.

"I can drive you, if you want–"

"Huh? Th – that's fine, you're already late!"

"It's fine, my parents are gonna chew me out no matter what I do, so–"

"Hey," Shintaro interrupts them. He hid his hands in the pockets of his trousers, awkwardly looking away when they stop talking and turn to see him. "Let's... let's hang out again, okay?"

And of course, Haruka and Takane glance at each other again. But for some reason it didn't bother Shintaro this time.

They both smile, "Of course."

Shintaro smiles back.

He just hopes they actually go to the arcade next time.

(After they leave, he realizes they forgot the Kano painting).

**Author's Note:**

> At first I had written what was in the letter but then realized it was quite literally just the lyrics of Additional Memory, so... hahaha. 
> 
> I'm tempted to write more harutaka on this setting. I just like fancy Takane, let me dream...


End file.
